N.E.A.T.C.D.A.

Every couple of years Mindy buys the kids

Burley t-shirts and lets them choose a nickname

for the back of the shirt. Sometimes their 

nicknames are a little big-headed

(like "Mr. Cool"). However, the nickname Milo

picked tonight tops them all - 

Never Ending Awesomeness That Can Do Anything.

Mindy says that won't fit on his shirt.

He doesn't have a self-confidence problem.

A week or two ago, John asked Milo who the

smartest person in his class was. 

Milo answered, "Me."

John then asked him who the second smartest person

in his kindergarten class was.

This time Milo had to think for a moment before

answering, "Mrs. Smiley." (his teacher)

Here's hoping he uses his awesomeness

and his self-confidence for good.

Toon Town Revisited

The kids go back to school tomorrow, and their

Thanksgiving vacation is ending on a high note.

Around six years ago, their favorite computer game

was Disney's Toontown. They spent money on

monthly subscriptions and hours and hours trying

to advance and to conquer all of the cogs.

Eventually they outgrew the game (or got tired

of paying to play it), and at some point Disney

pulled it. For some reason Bentley was thinking about

Toontown this past week and he found Toontown Rewritten.

It is almost completely the same as the original game,

and it is FREE. The five older kids spent most of yesterday

(and all of their computer time) playing and watching

each other play. They said it feels like they are 

revisiting their childhood. I'm not a fan of any 

computer games, but it is nice to have them all

interested in the same thing and getting along so well.

Here are a couple of past Toontown posts -

November 2008

February 2009

Thanksgiving Day

I spent Thanksgiving Day cooking dinner,

while Bentley hung the Christmas lights outside,

and John tried to rake as many leaves as possible

before the final green-waste collection this weekend.

The kids are always excited for The Feast,

and don't seem disappointed when I choose to

make a few dishes instead of everything every year.

This year I cooked the turkey in the crock pot and

it was great. We also had stuffing, mashed potatoes

(Bentley helped with those), gravy, rolls.

and pumpkin pies (thanks Cleo!).

Kindergarten Feast

Milo's kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving Feast

on the last day of school before the break.

Alton and I brought some food in and stayed to help.

How would Milo have eaten without his 

little brother there to put food in his mouth?

The kids tried turkey, cheese, grapes, pepperoni,

apple juice, carrot sticks, celery, muffins,

mashed potatoes, pumpkin cookies and eclairs.

Some foods were a bigger hit than others,

but I think that all of the kids enjoyed their feast.

A Five Hour Tour (or a Five Hour Service Project)

About a month ago, Bentley's English teacher

assigned a 5 hour service project. This had to be

some type of service that the kids would not

normally do, and they had to create a magazine,

a poem, and a graph based on their experience.

Bentley was stumped, and I was annoyed

(how on earth does a 5 hour service project relate

to any of the core standards????), but we finally 

decided that he would help me make a quilt for

one of his former teachers who is retiring after this

school year. He was able to spend 3 1/2 hours

preparing the fabric for Ruby's classmates to decorate.

(Ruby decorated her block as an example.)

That left us with 1 1/2 hours to fill. ack.

So, we decided to make a small signature quilt for

another of his former teachers who is also retiring

after this school year. I still have quite a bit of work

left to do on the quilts, but Bentley did a lot

of the ironing and cutting. He plans to help me 

finish things up once the kids decorate their blocks.

My Birthday!

My birthday was last Saturday, and John and I

started the day at the track with a few of the kids.

After a quick workout, John made pancakes

while I got ready for my hair appointment.

(Wish I had one of those every week instead of every 10.)

When I got home, we took everyone to The Chocolate
to choose desserts for that night. Yum.

The plan was to go to the mall for See's and to try on

clothes, but the washing machine broke. Plan B

was to go to the mall for See's (not optional), and then

to the laundromat. John and I planned to go out for dinner

and then eat our dessert with the kids. Instead, we got

take-out from In-N-Out and ate dessert. :)

I opened my presents, and then Ruby and I ran errands

while John put Alton to bed.

Ruby made this beautiful 3D art for me.

Just before bed, a good friend brought me a 

chocolate mousse pie. It's delicious, and I am going

to have to spend a lot more mornings at the track

because I plan to eat the entire thing. :)

How to Be a Pirate in Seven Easy Songs

For the past 5 years or more, one of our elementary

schools has put on a 4th, 5th, and 6th grade play.

They work very hard and the play is always great.

This year, the PTA decided to offer a simple play

to introduce 2nd and 3rd graders to the drama process.

Ruby was thrilled to participate.

The play chosen was "How to Be a Pirate in Seven Easy Songs."

There were no auditions, and they only had three weeks

(nine practices) to put the play together.

It was pretty fun to see the kids' excitement

and to watch their two performances.

Ruby and two of her pirate friends before 

their first performance. Cutest pirates ever!

Ruby (top left) with half of the cast,

and performing her dance (below).

You can watch parts of the play HERE.

4th Grade Dinosaurs

I spent part of last Tuesday and Thursday in Jonah's

class helping the 4th graders make dinosaurs.

It's a huge project, and it's really cool.

Bentley got to do it a few years ago, and I only partly

remembered the amount of work that goes into the dinos.

The kids start with an empty salt container, light bulbs,

and toilet paper/paper towel/wrapping paper tubes.

They form those into dinosaur shapes (after the parent

helpers cut holes in the salt canisters with steak knifes - not

my favorite part), and then cover them with masking tape.

That's Tuesday. Then, on Thursday they kids paper mache

the dinosaurs. It is a messy job and takes a few hours.

Once Jonah and I got the base coat on his dinosaur,

I had to go to Milo's class for his play. When I came back,

Jonah had finished decorating his dinosaur!

On Friday, after Ruby's play, the 4th graders

held their Dinosaur Museum.

Jonah named his ankylosaurus  "Warasaurus."

He looks pretty tough to me.

The First Thanksgiving Play

Milo's kindergarten class prepared a First Thanksgiving

Play that they shared with their parents and some other classes.

Milo was an Indian, and he did a great job on his part.

"Don't worry Pilgrims, we will help you."

Alton and I were able to see 2 of the 4 performances,

and John got to see one. Alton's favorite thing to do

in Milo's classroom is to sit on the carpet to read

Elmo books. It was so fun to see Milo's cute class

and their play. I also enjoyed hearing what the kids

were thankful for. Our guy is thankful for 

"God, Jesus, and the earth."

You can watch part of the performance HERE.

Chicken Funeral Take 2

Like Bentley's class last year, Maxwell's 6th grade

class mummified chickens and then buried them.

Maxwell and his good friend were chosen to be the

Egyptian priests. We spent an hour or more at Hobby Lobby

the week before (with Alton screaming at us) to pick out

the fabric and accessories for their costumes. It was great.

I'm just glad that he had a partner and that we

were all able to work together to figure out what they needed.

The boys were responsible for creating the Book of the Dead

and for writing the text for the opening of the mouth ceremony.

After the priests did their part, obituaries were read

for each chicken, their hearts were weighed, and

they were buried. It was sunny that day, but really cold.

I don't know how the kids kept from freezing.

You can see Maxwell's blessing ceremony HERE.

Random

Milo and his friend, Jonah, shoveled the little bit of

snow that we got a couple of weeks ago.

Then they through snowballs on the clean driveway. :)

Milo's self-combed hairdo.

Jonah's new year's goal was to fix the rocking chair.

He and John spent a Saturday doing just that..

They are a pretty good team.

Jonah is thinking about being a carpenter when

he grows up, and this was a way to work with wood.

Bentley and I went on his birthday lunch date

a week after his birthday. He chose to go to California

Pizza Kitchen. He spent all of the most recent fast Sunday

thinking about their meat cravers pizza, but his favorite part

 of the meal was the bread they bring for an appetizer. :)